Soon a JNU student leader to pen book on sedition row

After JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar, Shehla Rashid an active face of the student agitation during the sedition row in JNU is the next one to pen down her experiences about unrest in campuses.

Rashid, first Kashmiri girl to have made it to the JNU students union, led the student movement demanding release of varsity students including Kanhaiya who were arrested in February this year in a sedition case in connection with an event during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised.

Penguin Random House India has acquired rights of the debut work of non-fiction by Rashid. Tentatively titled “I, Student” the narrative account will focus on student politics and the current scenario in India’s campuses.

“I feel that the story of student politics in India is untold and misunderstood. The book is about education, about politics and about Kashmir. I will reflect upon the students’ movement through the range of different experiences that I have had,” Shehla said.

“I want to tell the story from the perspective of a Kashmiri and a woman. The current turmoil in Kashmir once again points to the grave need for understanding Kashmir, just as the current unrest in universities across the nation points to the need to understand our youth,” she added.

According to Rajni George, senior editor, Penguin Random House India, “Having led the campaign seeking the release of Kanhaiya Kumar and other students arrested on charges of sedition this year, she speaks from the frontlines of the JNU movement”.

“She has a lot to share about the underlying political currents within the movement as well as JNU itself, an institution that came under heavy attack following some controversial slogans which were allegedly raised on February 9,” added Rajni.

The book is expected to hit stands next year and Penguin is planning to subsequently publish it in Hindi, Malyalam and Urdu.

Kanhaiya, whose arrest on charges of sedition catapulted him to the centre stage of student’s politics and ignited a nationwide debate on nationalism and free speech, had in April announced that he is working on a book on his eventful journey from a nondescript Bihar village.

The book - Bihar to Tihar - which is being published by Juggernaut publications will tell the story of his journey from his school, his deepening involvement in student politics, his controversial arrest.